Tough Exam Puts State To The Test

Officials Fear Fallout For Low School Scores

When state officials designed a tough new exam for public school students, the idea was to get Illinois in line with a push to raise educational standards nationwide.

But now, so many schools have scored so poorly on the first test that Illinois Board of Education officials are not even sure whether to say that schools "passed" or "failed."

Some 500 out of 3,700 schools didn't have even 50 percent of their students performing at minimum standards on the new Illinois Standards Achievement Test, according to one preliminary analysis made public last week. That 50 percent threshold traditionally has been used to identify failing schools, but now top administrators are considering shelving it for a year in light of the poor performances.

Moreover, those 500 schools normally would face placement on an "academic early warning list" if their failing scores continued for a second year, entitling them to increased state assistance. But the large number of schools this time no doubt would create controversy and confusion among parents and administrators.

So lawyers for the state are now looking into whether Illinois law even requires that a warning list be created--or whether it is legal to take a hiatus for one year.

Under the old test, last administered in 1998, only 80 schools failed to meet the 50 percent threshold. Seventy-eight of them were put on the warning list.

Privately, officials worry that the new results will be interpreted as yet another wholesale condemnation of public education and will reignite a campaign for school vouchers.

In a further development on Tuesday, the state board announced that Illinois' college-bound seniors scored substantially higher on the SAT than the national average in the last school year, adding another element to the debate over conflicting test scores.

As for the ISAT results, the initial estimate of more than 500 failing schools was later dismissed as "very, very premature" by a board spokeswoman. She explained that the state may use a different formula to identify weak schools, which could lower the number of those failing the ISAT.

Nonetheless, the results pose a quandary for new State Supt. Max McGee:

On the one hand, he is worried over the large number of schools that "failed" under the 50-percent formula.

But to reduce that number from 500, he would have to lower the 50 percent standard even further. That would present a contradiction in that after raising the test's difficulty, the state was lowering the grading standards.

"This is a new set of standards. It's a brand new test. Frankly for one of my employees to say `failing school,' that's a policy decision that the board has yet to make," McGee said.

"The standard (for identifying failing schools) will be rigorous. I was hired for this job because I believe in accountability. My stance on tough assessments is to don't blink, and I'm not blinking," McGee said.

The new ISAT scores, already being mocked by some educators as "Illinois' Stupid Attempt at Testing," will serve as a "wake-up call" for everyone in education, said Ronald Gidwitz, chairman of the state education board.

"Looking at the ISAT scores that I have seen, it is in some areas a call to arms--let's fix the system," Gidwitz said. "We have clearly raised the bar. The tests are more stringent than in the past, so it's not surprising the test results are less than they have been in the past," he said.

State board officials declined to identify the more than 500 poor-performing schools. On Sept. 9, McGee is scheduled to appear on the floor of the Illinois House in his first annual State of Education address and announce the official scores from the new $9.5 million ISAT.

State board attorneys, however, are looking into whether state law allows a one-year suspension of the academic early warning list, even though McGee has already written "Dear Superintendent" letters to district administrators contending that "schools will not receive (failing) designations based on the 1999 ISAT results."

Board officials would like this year's scores to serve as a base line for judging schools next year. For this year, the state board would like to work with the worst schools on a voluntary basis. A new formula for designating weak schools would be established next year, officials said.

Meanwhile, district superintendents already are raising concerns about the reliability of the new exam because the scores may conflict with results from nationally normed exams that may have shown a school was improving or meeting higher standards.

There are also questions about the administration of the new test, which include not telling districts in advance of the test what kind of answers qualify as meeting standards. Moreover, the exam is given earlier than other standardized tests, when students are barely into the second semester.